Team X and Other Stories
by Scarabbug
Summary: A series of random, whimsical tales for various Sonic the Hedgehog Series’. Mostly oneshots. Various genres.
1. Signing Up Or Not

**Universe: **_**Sonic Riders**_**-Meets-**_**Sonic Heroes**_**-**_**Meets-Sonic X**_**.**

**There's a story behind this. Albeit not a particularly coherent one. It involves the disappearance of Team Sonic just before the beginning of a new Race-Type Tournament (think Sonic Heroes Strategy and Team Organization meets Sonic Riders) with the fate of the world at stake.**

**Figures. The universe is about to crash down around you and the best team capable of stopping it, the one group which may have the power and will necessary to stop this great force of evil in its tracks (no pun intended), just up and disappears off the face of the planet. Naturally everyone else starts competing to be the ones who'll take Sonic and Co's place going up against The Big Bad. Including a few certain humans who have more to worry about than just glory...**

**Readers are warned in advance for what is mostly a lack of context. **

* * *

Signing Up. 

'Well madam I'm sure that we'll be able to replace those missing seat tickets right away. We wouldn't want our customers to have a bad spot to watch the End of the World As We Know It, now, would we? Yes indeed. Goodbye.'

_**Click.**_

'...Sheesh, why people are making such an event out of an apocalypse is beyond me... Bring a board in and everyone thinks it's a party... Oh, sorry, kid, do you want something?'

'Um, yes. Hello. I'd like to sign my team up for the Riders Tournament, please.'

'Okay then let's just...excuse me?'

'My team? I'd like to sign them up. A Three-Man Lightweight-Board Team. This is the right place for that, isn't it? I checked the map.'

'Uh...huh. It's... the right place.'

'Oh, good. So is there some other problem?'

'Sure there's a problem. This won't do, you realise? You're going against so many rules here that I can't count them on one wing.'

'So go through them with us one at a time with me and we'll fix them.'

'Oh-kay, I'll humour you: for a start you're humans.'

'There's nothing against humans running in the rulebook.'

'Nooo but there are some fairly obvious reasons why they usually don't.'

'Sonic is a special exception, I'm willing to take a chance if it means helping him.'

'Riiight. Well, I'm sure Sonic doesn't need a bunch of kids racing around trying to play the goddamn hero (_while he eventually turns up safe and sound and ends up having to rescue the bunch of them from their own stupidity, damn glory hog that he is.._.)'

'Maybe not, but I bet that's not in the rulebook.'

'Um... no. But none of you fly. The rules state that you need a member of the party to be capable of unpowered levitation without a hover board.'

'We do have someone capable of unpowered levitation; she's a Chaos-Generated ghost-slash-hologram crafted by the Master Emerald and given sentience via Chaos Control. We call her Maria.'

'And she would be?'

'She's the one out back playing with the kids.'

'But... She hovers. Nothing else. Just floats there, all ghost like, she doesn't _fly, _she barely even lifts off; it has no practical use whatsoever.'

'True, but the book didn't say that, the book just says we need someone capable of remaining off the ground for extended periods of time. It doesn't say anything about them having to use that flight for momentum purposes.'

'What, you think they need the ability to flutter around just for show, then?'

'No, I think we need it because we'll have to clear certain areas which hover boards won't take us through safely. That's why I'm designing the jet propulsion system.'

'And I suppose you're going to bash through the heavy obstacles, Huh?'

'Um. No.

'Well then there you are, I'm sorry to disappoint you but we—'

'I _meant_ no, because that's Molly's job, I just provide the explosives. And before you ask, yeah I checked the book for that too –nothing says you can't use them. It just says we have to—'

'Include a Team member capable of dismantling heavy blockades and other objects, I know, I know. What did you do, brat? Scan the entire rule book?'

'Pretty much. Next?'

'Um. You're underage?'

'Actually eighteen, book says you only need one chaperone per team, and your course champion –who's still vanished off the face of the planet, I might add– is definitely younger than that anyway.'

'What do you mean you're _eighteen_? Kid, you look about—'

'Twelve? Yeah, it's a problem, I'm working on it. Is that all? I think we've covered everything in the book.'

'Sigh. Okay, fine, it's your funeral. Sign up. But sign this too, while you're at it.'

'What's that?'

'A little slip of paper promising you won't sue us if you plunge to your untimely deaths in a chasm.'

'...Oh. Okay.'

'Thank you very much. And what, pray tell, would be the name of this team you're entering anyway?'

'Um...'

'What? You haven't thought of a name already?'

'Sure I have... we're _Team X_. Just put us down as that.'

* * *


	2. I Just Met a Girl Named Maria

**This fic is set in the same universe as the previous chapter. Think _Sonic Heroes_-meets-_Sonic X_-meets-_Sonic Riders_. **

**The title of this fic is taken from a phrase and song in the musical _West Side Story_. Which doesn't have a particularly happy ending, I might add. Standard reviews and disclaimers apply.**

* * *

I Just Met a Girl Named Maria.

'_The time is 12:45 pm, all racers are advised to take their place at the starting line up, please, all racers to the starting line up...'_

He encounters her –briefly, so very briefly– just before the first race. She smiles at something – not him, she doesn't know he's there, she can't _see_ him– through the crowd, tucking a strand of blonde hair behind her ear and holding her board all wrong. Then she turns and walks away through the crowd.

He follows her, with Rouge's protests and annoyance ringing in his ears.

'Shadow where do you think you're going? The race is about to... Shadow?! _Shadow_, come back here!'

'Hey, check it out, guys: mister moral compass there is doin' a runner five minutes before the first race.'

'Oh, shut _up_, Vector, concentrate on your own damn team.'

He ignores them all. He pushes through the people gathered around him as if they're bowling pins. He follows the route of her motion. He feels his heart pounding harder and harder with every step he takes, and just when it feels as if he won't see her again, there she is Not-quite-sitting on a nearby chair, watching the gathering spectators with nervous excitement.

It's Maria.

Which is, of course, damned impossible, but that doesn't change the fact that she's _there_. The fact that her eyes are just as her eyes should have been. The fact that her Riders' gear is soft, sky blue, the same colour as her favourite dress. The fact that her board is decorated, however whimsically for a supposed Pro-Rider, with an image of two interlocking Golden Rings.

He approaches her so slowly you would never have guessed he could reach the speeds he was capable of. His world had slowed to an insect's crawl. His eyes had locked on a focus and would not let go.

Only when he is less than three feet in front of her can he find the strength to speak. '...Ma... ria?'

She turns to face him and her eyes... her eyes are everything he always remembers them being. Blue, the same shade as that boy's, the same colour as the planet earth seen from space. The same gentle look that has been turned to him so many times and never faded in his mind.

The only thing missing from them is any spark of recognition.

'Yes, that's me. Are you one of the Starting Judges?'

Maria. Her name, and yet she doesn't know him. Just like he spent so many months not knowing her out in space. Maybe that's all it is. Maybe that's why she doesn't know him. Maybe...

'I...I'm not.'

'Oh, I'm sorry. How silly of me, I should've realised you were one of the other Team's Competitors.' The girl –Maria, it's _Maria_, damn it– stands up and even in his shock, he has to notice the fact that her feet remain floating just off the ground. She seems taller than she should be as a result. 'Let me make a guess. You're in team... Chaotix?'

Had anyone else made the suggestion he might have felt insulted. 'No. No I'm not with them.' And he thinks _don't you know who I am? Don't you see me?_ But cannot force the words out of his mouth.

'Oh, then you must be... Team... Dark,' she beamed. 'Yes, I remember now. You're Shadow, aren't you? I saw you in the magazine. You've won an awful lot of races. Chris says that you're won almost as many as Team Sonic.'

Chris.

Shadow glimpses around, but there is no sign of the boy (who honestly seriously shouldn't be here anyway, what in the name of Chaos are they _thinking_, entering a race like this? They're _humans_, they'll never _make_ it.) He must be over at the Signing Gates or something. Messing around with their equipment, or no doubt searching for information on the missing Team Sonic. But Shadow starts wondering exactly what in hell the kid has done. How he _made_ this happen...

'It must be incredible to have raced so many times,' Maria goes on. 'And I guess it must get easier, too. I'm so nervous, seeing as it's my first time racing today. I haven't been around for very long, you see, and Chris says it'll take a while for me to get used to everything. But I really, really wanted to race today, Shadow. I hope I do well, so we can help rescue Sonic and the others...'

He is the Ultimate Life Form. He is Shadow the Hedgehog. There are few, if any boundaries to his power; there is nothing he cannot accomplish. Yet still, it takes all his strength to speak again in this pretty, floating girl's presence. 'The... the boy. Where is he?'

'Chris? He and my other Teammate Molly are signing the inventory slips for this race. And I think they're making us sign some other forms just in case something, well, happens,' she looks worried, but only for a second before her smile returns. 'I'm just...how do you say it? "Keeping their places warm", she laughed lightly, sending chills of recollections down his spine as she pats the seat she floats over without quite touching. 'Well, technically, anyway.'

He can't _breathe_. 'M...Molly?'

'Yes. Have you met her? She's very nice. She's our heavyweight member, though we had to pull some strings in that department. Actually I think we're pulling an awful lot of strings in general just to be able to run this race at all. Most people don't think we have a chance of even getting through the first checkpoint, much less winning, but... Well, Chris believes in us. And if it helps us rescue his friends, then I'm glad to help him.'

Oh, god, this just gets weirder and weirder. For the first time Shadow thinks to pinch himself and check he isn't dreaming. It hurts. He isn't.

She looks so sincere, so honest, so heart-tearingly familiar. But by now the knowledge that this is _not_ his Maria is beginning to sink reluctantly into his mind. He can feel it now. Her presence is different. Her awareness is different. The fact that her feet are constantly hovering half a foot off the ground is different. She is not _her_.

And yet she's all there, all alive, all _Maria_...

And he is not going to fall. He's not. The Ultimate Life Form and Chosen One of Humanity Shadow the Hedgehog does not, under any circumstances, pass out.

Maria. Molly. Chris. What're in the name of Chaos are they _doing_ here, damn it?

'Are you alright, sir? You look worried.' Maria wraps her arms too tightly around her board, a concerned look on her face. 'Does the hovering bother you? One of the people in the other team screamed a bit, because they thought I was a ghost,' she looks upset at that, and suddenly he feels guilty for having imagined her as anything of the sort. She looks as if it's _her_ fault she is the way she is. As if it's _her_ problem and not the problem of everyone around her.

Maria was like that. Maria blamed herself for others problems. Maria tried to shoulder the weight of the whole world's fear and in the end it might as well have killed her just as easily as the bullet did. There are so many feelings in her face. So much confusion, and if Shadow ever finds the person who made her look so dejected and worried, then he would seriously have to...

Stop. Deep breath. Focus on the movement of the people shifting all around him, the flurrying of tense racers; the gaggling echoes of excited spectators. The sound of hover board engines whirring and the timer ticking in the nearby gallery, everything humming, like the shifting of atoms within a balloon.

Don't fall _don't_ fall. 'I'm... fine.'

'Are you sure? If you want me to fetch him then there's a course medic over... there somewhere.' She looks around uncertainly. 'I'm sorry, I didn't have time to check the course maps before we came; we were in such a rush to get here.' She looks back at him. He shakes his head.

'No that's... it's alright. There's no problem.' He lies. This isn't just a _problem_ this is a law of reality smashing into a million goddamn pieces.

'Well if you're quite sure... Is there something else you wanted?' Maria asks. 'Our team leader is the one who really knows what's going on, and I don't think I'm supposed to discuss strategy with other teams, I'm afraid.'

'No... Just... Luck...' he managed to choke out, and he has to grit his teeth not to scream her name. To clench his fists to keep from reaching out and touching her. To tell himself over and over that _no_, it isn't _her_. It cannot be _her_. 'I came... I came to wish you luck. In the race.'

'That's good of you,' she smiles broadly, seeming genuinely glad. 'I don't see why everyone seems so worried about your team; I think you're a very nice person. And your flyer is very pretty. Is she your 

girlfriend?' She speaks with honestly and serenity and... He would be embarrassed, if not for than and the shock creeping steadily through his veins.

Maria. Maria. Maria. Her name is always there, and now, this girl; this echo of who she had been...

'Well, I wish you good luck too, Shadow,' She breaks his chain of thought by reaching out to him, still smiling that old, not-quite-Maria smile. 'I hope to see you at the end of the race. Be careful out there, won't you?'

'...You too.' Shadow takes her hand and hopes she doesn't notice his palms are sweating.

The claxon sounds like a violent scream across the course and suddenly, the atmosphere changes. Like the bubble has burst. The crowds are shifting with newfound urgency. People are laughing, smiling, determined. No one thinks they can lose, Shadow realises. '_Watch me,_' their engines and faces all scream. '_Watch our team take Sonic's place, watch our champions win. Watch our dust as we leave you behind_.'

Shadow does not watch them. His eyes see only her. All of a sudden the race does not seem nearly as important as who is running it.

'Oh my!' Maria yelps and bolts up from her seat. She drifts about a bit as she does so, anchored to the ground, it seems, by will alone. 'That was the opening claxon, wasn't it? You should get back to your Team, Mister Shadow, I have to go find mine quickly or else we're going to be late starting!'

And then she turns and runs-slash-hovers across the arena, nudging gently between the crowds with all the speed and swiftness of the ghost she surely is. For a very long moment, Shadow does not go back to his team, but stands and watches the place where she was. Tries to remember the sensation of her hand in his. He shakes without meaning to.

He is going to have to have a very long, very meaningful _talk_ with Christopher Thorndyke after this race is over. Presuming they're all still alive.

'_Attention, this is the two minute advance warning. All racers are advised to take their positions on the track, please, all racers advised to take their positions...' _


End file.
